In environments where small children, infants or pets are present, it is desirable and advantageous to have a gate or closure device which may be temporarily placed within a doorway to prevent passage through the opening. For example, it may be desirable to restrict small children to a particular room without shutting the door to the room such that one can look into the room or the children can see an adult nearby. It is also desirable and advantageous to have a gate or closure device that is visually appealing so that a child does not focus on being restricted to a specific area of the home, but instead is comforted or entertained by the device.
Various gate devices have been proposed wherein the gate may be removably mounted within a doorway and which typically include means for adjusting the width of the gate to accommodate different doorway widths. U.S. Pat. No. 2,490,612 to Ballard and U.S. Pat. No. 2,581,857 to Harrison disclose gate devices capable of accommodating openings of varying widths, and are located in the opening by the use of U-shaped devices on either side of the gate which straddle the door jambs. These devices must be either removed or stepped over in order to enter or exit the opening, for example, in the event an adult has to attend to or check on a small child.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,914 to Johnson, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,115 to Freese, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,829 to Crossley, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,191 to Carson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,746 to McPhaden and Australian Patent Specification No. 212089 all disclose gate devices which are extendible to span openings of varying widths. These devices are held in the door opening or passageway by placing the gate device in compression, thereby applying outward pressure against the door jambs or passageway walls to hold the device in the opening, usually by the use of soft bumpers or pads which frictionally engage the side of the opening. These gate devices also need to be stepped over or removed in order to enter or exit the opening. Alternately, the gate device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,829 to Crossley, et al. may be permanently hinged in the opening. This requires drilling holes in the side of the opening, for example, the door jamb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,036 to Johnson discloses a safety gate device which uses two individual segments, overlapping in the center of the opening, to span openings of various widths. The hinges are permanently attached to each side of the opening.
British Patent Publication GB 2129473A discloses a hinged, adjustable gate device with an adjustable tubular frame to fit various width openings. The hinge is permanently attached to one side of the door opening.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,840 to Knoedler et al., 5,442,881 to Asbach et al., and 4,583,715 to Wright disclose gate devices which have hinged frames so that the opening may be entered without stepping over or removing the gate. However, the integral L- or U-shaped frame must be stepped over when one passes through the opened gate. The frames of these gate devices are held in place in the opening by an outward lateral force which is applied to the doorway opening sides via pads on the outer portions of the frames which frictionally engage the door opening.
If a frictionally engaged gate device is improperly adjusted, or if the opening has an irregular surface or is not plumb, it may be possible to disengage such frictionally engaged gates by applying sufficient force to the gate frame to displace it from the opening. A small child, if determined, may be capable of applying such a force. If an excessive amount of force is used to keep the gate in place, the door opening may be damaged or marred.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,765 to Johnson Jr. discloses an adjustable width, hinged safety gate apparatus which may be fastened to the door frame pillar with a clamp-on unit having an integral hinge.
Many proposed gate devices such as those of U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,305 to Hill, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,616 to Berkowitz and U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,521 to Barnes et al. utilize an expandable accordion type closure device. Although newer designs provide features to prevent head and neck entrapment, such accordion devices still provide the opportunity for capturing fingers, toes or other body parts.
Other devices have been proposed to mount doors or other devices in openings. U.S. Pat. Nos. 453,627 to Draper and 695,666 to Bommer disclose adjustable spring hinges for mounting lavatory doors onto marble slabs. These devices require the use of bolts drilled through the marble slab to attach the adjustable spring hinge to the marble slab. U.S. Pat. No. 2,833,248 to Meyer et al. discloses a livestock holder with a swinging gate attached to a frame which is held in an opening by U-shaped devices on the bottom, straddling the doorsill, and screw clamp type devices on the top, to attach to the door opening.
Many of the presently proposed gate devices incorporate a mesh or grid type design for major portions of the gate panels spanning the opening which, although functional, provide no visual diversion for a small child or infant while retained inside a room. The appearance of these gate devices does not contribute towards the child's acceptance of their confinement within a room or space and the limitation on their movement. The outward appearance of the various proposed gate devices is that of a barrier, which may be considered as ominous and threatening to the child, and possibly interpreted by the child as conveying a message of separation and alienation from others within the household. U.S. Design Patent No. D47472 to Quackenbush discloses an ornamental design for childrens' fence gates which has small illustrations of nursery-rhyme characters such as Humpty-Dumpty and the like on a gate for a fence. The design patent does not disclose a gate at least partially in the shape of a cartoon character or animal.
The present invention provides a gate device for use in a door opening having two opposed vertical surfaces. The gate device may be at least partially in the form of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional cartoon character or animal and provides an aesthetically pleasing device for confining a small child in desired space without conveying a message of separation to the small child. The gate device provides for secure attachment to both sides of the door opening without the necessity for permanently affixing the gate device. The gate device of the present invention may be used in openings of various widths and also for vertical surfaces having different depths, such as, walls, banister posts and the like.